Likely Solicitors Fees

caveman38

Is there a rule of thumb regarding solicitors fees for a widow with a simple will.
The house is in joint ownership and the deceased had 2 BS accounts in his name, a sole bank account, a SP and a company pension too. The solicitor has been instructed to deal with everything although most of it is straight forward.
Nearing completion the widow is concerned with what the final bill will be as she hadn't discussed it with the solicitor at the start.
With the little knowledge that I had, I informed her that it was likely to be approx. 2% of the total amount of the estate. With the value of the house included that would amount to an eye watering amount. However, I have since read that the value of a jointly owned house is not included in the final total amount. Is that correct and his only involvement in that side of things is the dealings with Land Registry and nothing else. 
If I am correct the final fee would be a couple of thousand pounds rather than 10. 
Can anyone advise please.

Grumpelstiltskin

Unfortunately the answer will be 'how long is a piece of string'
The big mistake was not asking before all this started.

Keep_pedalling

Solicitors have different charging methods, percentage, fixed, hourly or a combination of those. Have you seen the contract terms?

caveman38

Obviously it is too late to ask the solicitor, but just to be prepared.
I want confirmation of the question regarding the house. Is it added to total of the estate. Or are the fees whether 2/3/4% on the remaining elements of the estate.

Pennylane

My neighbour was a legal secretary all her working life.  She used to tell me they had a scale of charges which she had to consult when preparing bills.  She had to then add on everything else like phone calls, letters, emails, envelopes, even paper clips!  

However, I would say check their bill carefully and query anything you don’t agree with. A solicitor sent me a bill which included a letter he wrote to me to tell me he couldn’t reach me on the phone. he was charging £75 for this and included the number he had been “repeatedly trying” which had 3 digits wrong.  I said i would not be paying for that as he took my number down wrong.  

MovingForwards

The charge out rate, fee percentage and other things will be included in the T&C's received when instructing the firm.
Some do fixed fees, generally when it's just obtaining probate / confirmation.
Most do a fixed percent as people want the firm to deal with obtaining the grant, collecting in the assets and distributing them.

naedanger

caveman38 said:

Is there a rule of thumb regarding solicitors fees for a widow with a simple will.
The house is in joint ownership and the deceased had 2 BS accounts in his name, a sole bank account, a SP and a company pension too. The solicitor has been instructed to deal with everything although most of it is straight forward.
Nearing completion the widow is concerned with what the final bill will be as she hadn't discussed it with the solicitor at the start.
With the little knowledge that I had, I informed her that it was likely to be approx. 2% of the total amount of the estate. With the value of the house included that would amount to an eye watering amount. However, I have since read that the value of a jointly owned house is not included in the final total amount. Is that correct and his only involvement in that side of things is the dealings with Land Registry and nothing else. 
If I am correct the final fee would be a couple of thousand pounds rather than 10. 
Can anyone advise please.

The following gives some examples of what the co-op would charge on a fixed fee basis for various estates:
https://www.co-oplegalservices.co.uk/probate-solicitors/fixed-fee-probate-quote/

That said there is a huge variation in what solicitors will charge so I am not sure if this will be of much help. 

TBagpuss

Has she checked the original terms when she instructed the solicitors? They should have provided information about how their costs would be calculated and an estimate.

Has she (or you) looked on their website? Under transparency rules they should publish details of some costs - these won't be exact, as each case will be billed based on the actual work needed,  but where the work isn't on a fixed fee, the website  should show a range.

caveman38

Thanks for all the advice & info. Can anybody tell me the answer to my question of whether the house is added to total of the estate or not.

TBagpuss

If the house was held as joint tenants so passed automatically to her, then no, as it wouldn't ever have been part of the estate.
If it was owned as tenants in common then his interest in it  would form part of the husband's estate but you would still need to to check how this particular solicitor was working out their fees or any value element. 

Do you know that they are actually charging based on a percentage? 

caveman38

I'm afraid I don't know any details re. the solicitor or his fees. I just wanted confirmation that if he works on percentage then that would only be on his monies etc. and the house wouldn't be included. 
Thanks again.